For over a hundred years, methods have been devised for protecting guns from the elements, to keep their action mechanisms in good working order at a moment's notice. Leverich's 1862 “Improvement in Covers for Gun-Locks” (U.S. Pat. No. 35,456) utilized a tube of India-rubber fabric secured by elastic banded ends to retard the development of rust on the action. Other concerns in the early days included keeping gunpowder dry. While those problems have largely been resolved by advances in metallurgy and cartridge technology, the issues of protection from the weather has remained in the modern era, in part due to the addition of scopes and improvements in precision machining of actions, the function of both of which can be diminished by adverse weather conditions, even if less frequent or less harsh.
Sportsmen shoot during hunting season under conditions of rain, shine, snow, sleet, fog, dirt and dust. Similar conditions apply to law enforcement, national guard, security personnel and military arms bearers. But it is difficult if not impossible to see through an optical scope that is streaked with rainwater or covered with condensation or ice. Several patents issued between the 1940s and the present, including: Bogg U.S. Pat. No. 2,364,340; Brelsford U.S. Pat. No. 2,599,689; Easter U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,860,479 and 5,048,217; Jones et al U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,678,344, 6,119,388 and 6,256,922; and White U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,361 attempt to solve such problems, using rigid and soft-sided materials, zippers, drawstrings, magnets, clips and hook-and-loop fasteners to secure a cover assembly to the weapon. Typically, these were dedicated to a particular gun size and configuration; i.e. they lacked universality.
Further, and equally important, such gun and/or scope cover devices ignored one of the key issues in hunting: silence. Deer and other game have acute hearing. The sound of a snap being un-snapped, or a buckle or hook and loop fastener being released, or a hard cover dragging on branches as the hunter moves through brush is enough to spook the game. These references do not address noise suppression or avoidance.
Thus, none of these prior art covers provide the essential features most important to the sportsman—a universal cover which keeps the scope and action dry and haze-free without hindering access, and which can be quickly and quietly removed and emplaced with one hand while holding the gun in the other.
Accordingly, there is an unmet need in the art for a universal, quick-release and emplacement (on-off), form-fitting, quiet, condensation, abrasion and precipitation-resistant protective covering for rifle and hand gun scopes and actions.